Happy National Find a Rainbow Day – How to Crochet a Rainbow Spiral

Happy National Find a Rainbow Day! 

And I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than to share the rainbow spiral pattern that I posted on my IG page last week:

Background

As I mentioned in the post, the inspiration for this project (cuz that’s what it became) came from a picture that I saw occasionally on Pinterest. It was a beautiful image of a granny stitch in the round with 8 bright, vibrant colors that just send out happy vibes. But everytime I clicked on the pin, it would direct me to a website that had nothing to do with arts nor crafts. It wasn’t inappropriate, it was just a business owner’s misguided attempt to attract visitors to their website. 

Anyway, this misleading pin annoyed me and the last time it happened (despite reports to Pinterest), I took a screenshot of the image and vowed to create it on my own. Wasn’t sure how that was going to happen but where there’s a will, there’s a way and guess what, I found the way!

Recipe

What I’m sharing is more of a recipe than a pattern. I’m sharing the principle behind crocheting in the round with more than one color but there isn’t a specific end product/pattern in mind, you can take the recipe and create something fun with it like a coaster, cap, wall hanging, pillow, blanket, rug, etc. 

And the yarns don’t have to be color rainbows, you could take a monochromatic approach and use several shades of the same color, constrasting colors, etc.

You’ll need at least 8 colors to make it work otherwise the stitches will stretch to connect to the other colors and it won’t look appealing. On the max side, you probably don’t need more than 10 colors otherwise the round becomes harder to manage and harder to lay flat.

The next challenge for me is to complete this spiral using other stitches. The photo that I saw used granny stitches but I need to have an extended vacation to quiet my mind enough to be able to visualize what that looks like, lol!  Anyway, here’s the recipe:

Instructions

Materials

Yarn: I used Paintbox Simply Aran yarns because of the variety of colors that they offer – small vent – they won’t let me be great, they’re always out of Blood Orange yarn – which is why my pattern is nine colors instead of ten. Now I could’ve just substituted another brand and that’s what I ultimately did for other colors but no one had the shade of orange that I was seeking except Paintbox so it’s no wonder that it’s frequently out of stock….other fine substitutes would be Caron Simply Soft, Stylecraft Special Aran yarn, or whatever you have in your stash. This tutorial is based on worsted weight yarn but you can use any weight yarn although you may have to adjust the number of colors included. Let me know how it turns out if you use a different weight yarn, ok?.

TIP: To find yarn substitute recommendations, a great resource is www.yarnsub.com

The colors that I used were: 213,(219 – blood orange), 222, 225, 229, 233, 234, 242, 250 and I added Mango Orange from Caron Simply Soft.

You’ll also need:

• One stitch marker for each color used, yarn needles, scissors :

Crochet Hook: Size H for a Clover hook at Amazon or here for a Furl’s hook

The general idea follows the same principle as crocheting in the round: 

• If the first round is X stitches, each subsequent round will be X additional stitches. For example, if the first round consists of 9 stitches, the second round will be 18, the third round will be 27, the fourth round will be 36 stitches, etc. 
• These are spirals so you won’t complete a slip stitch at the end of each round, just keep track of which color is your anchor color so that you know when you have completed a round and can move on to the next round of stitches. 
• No need for a beginning ch or turning after a round

Make a magic ring, ch2, one dc, pull the loop a little long, insert stitch marker at the end to hold the loop secure. Add each color one at a time by joining the yarn to the magic ring (make sure you’re picking up two strands of the ring) with a dc and insert a stitch marker at the end to hold the loop secure.

Round 2:

Using color A, two dc into the bottom half of the dc in front of the main color, use stitch marker to secure end, repeat with all colors as you go around the circle.

Round 3: One dc, then two dc into the next two stitches of the next color

Round 4: Two dc then two dc in the third stitch (This round is where the magic happens, right around here the spiral starts to form and take shape)

Round 5: Three dc then two dc in the fourth stitch

Round 8: Four dc then two dc in the fifth stitch

Round 9 Five dc then two dc in the sixth stitch

And so on.

You can continue this pattern until its your desired size. At that point decrease each color by reducing the stitch height gradually. Then fasten off and weave in the ends. For example, I did nine rounds so did 3 dc, 3hdc, and 3 sc.

And, as mentioned before, you can turn the round into another pattern, e.g., pillow, wall hanging, coaster, rug, blanket, etc. 

Tips 

• Use 8-10 colors ideally
• Do one round at a time even if you can make additional stitches otherwise you increase the likelihood that you’ll miss the stitch pattern and your spiral will start to look wavy like a potato chip…don’t ask me how I know this….
• Be sure to check the stitches before continuing to the next round otherwise you’ll discover 10 rounds later that you made an error that causes the spiral to curl adn the ONLY way to fix it is to frog your spiral Again, don’t ask me how I know this….If your spiral doesn’t lay flat after smoothing it out, you made an error. Don’t argue with me, just check your stitches, make the correction, and keep it moving

Be creative and use the hashtag #crochetandtwistrainbows when you post yours so that I can see them! Happy Crocheting!

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